Cassie’s World

With the upcoming sporting event captivating the interest of the nation, why not use that enthusiasm to inspire learning?

The Super Bowl is filled with statistics, history, and opportunity.

When looking at this sporting event through the eyes of a teacher, one might see first the opportunity to have students plan a trip to the event. This requires finding flights, accommodations, transfers between the events, purchasing tickets, finding other things to do around the city, along with figuring out expenses. How much would it cost to take two people to the Super Bowl? To take this activity even further students could log the information into a spread sheet.

Geographically speaking, the Super Bowl has traveled throughout the United States. Students can find the locations of all the Super Bowls and then put that information onto a map of the United States.

Evaluating the history of the entertainment for the National Anthem and the half-time show is another activity. Why were these people selected? What types of groups performed? What was happening in the country at that time?

The tickets to the Super Bowl are also reflective of the location. Looking at tickets from the past is interesting. Thinking about what a ticket would look like if your city was hosting the Super Bowl is another activity. What aspects of your city are highlights that would warrant being a part of the design of the ticket?

Evaluating the data of the team members provided on the team rosters is another activity worth exploring. Are there any team members that came from colleges in your state? How do the two teams compare based on the information on the rosters?

Statistics are readily available through the National Football League. If you review the statistics of all of the teams throughout the season, did the very best teams make it to the Super Bowl, or are there other teams with betters stats?

Create your own playoff series, and gather and evaluate statistics by having your own “football” games. Fold the piece of paper, make footballs, and then flick them across the table to hold tabletop football games. Gather data and evaluate.

The learning opportunities that come from seemingly celebrating a national sporting event can inspire students to enthusiastically learn new skills while creating engaged minds!

I am hoping the girls can get rid of their training wheels this summer...

Step 1, PURCHASE THE SMALLEST BIKE you can find. A small bike that a 2 or 3 year old can sit on with his or her feet completely flat on the ground. Don’t be distracted by all the beautiful bikes that they can grow into. Buy the SMALLEST bike possible –period. You can upgrade to a cool bike later after they learn how to ride.

Step 2, REMOVE THE PEDALS – Make sure the seat is in the lowest possible position and then unscrew the pedals, yes, take them completely off. Before peddling comes balancing, so take off those pedals because they will just confuse your kid while he or she should be concentrating on balancing.

Step 3, COASTING & CHEER LEADING – Find a small incline, almost flat but with just enough of an angle to let your kid practice slowly coasting on the bike. Let them coast down and walk back up as many times as they want with their feet sliding on either side of the bike. This lets them get the balance and the steering down pat before you put the pedals back on. And this way they will never fall down!

And your Job is to cheer every time they make it down the hill! Clap and scream and hug them as if they just one a gold medal! This is perhaps the most important part to get them excited to want to learn, you MUST do this. Don’t worry about people watching, you’ll just look like the best parent in the world to anyone who happens to see you whooping it up with your kid. So always stand at the bottom of the hill and drag them off of the seat and hug them each time they make it down!

Step 4, PEDALS BACK ON – Screw on the Pedals and let them practice pedaling and coasting down the small hill as many times as it takes until they are completely confident. More hugs, clapping and loud screaming whistling happiness!

Step 5, RAISE THE SEAT – Without the child knowing it, slowly raise the seat one notch at a time – let them continue riding then do it again when they aren’t looking, so that the child eventually has to touch the ground with just his or her tippy toes on either side of the bike which is the proper height for bike riding.

Your kids won’t mind, because THEY WILL BE RIDING A BIKE! And never once will they fall and break a bone or bloody a knee or loose their trust in you for pushing them and letting go like all the other parents in the world are doing.

This is the only painless FUN way to learn to ride a bike! And it only takes one day! One day that can be recorded forever on video to show their friends that they never fell down once learning to ride a bike – umm they must.